Susan's thoughts
Hi all! I haven't had a chance to really get an email out and for that I am sorry. The internet access here is a little sketchy and we haven't had a lot of down time. On the whole, I can say that I have been truly overwhelmed. Overwhelmed as I walked in and saw all these beautiful babies lined up in chairs, overwhelmed with the needs the orphanage has and how grateful they are for any small thing, but most of all, overwhelmed with the spirit and unity of this team. We have brought people from all over the US and yet, it seems like one huge family.
The children are beautiful and well cared for. But it is so hard to see so many and know that the nannies, who truly do a great job, only have so many hands. These little ones are so thirsty for attention and it hurts to think how they will react when we are gone and all the extra arms aren't there. Several of us have "favorites" even though we tried not to. Derek has "Kay-Kay" - at least that is how they say her name. He is so attached to this baby and seeks her out first thing. She smiles and really interacts with him. He told me tonight that if it was possible to take her home with him now, he would want to. I hope when we leave tomorrow, he will not be too crushed.
Tomorrow is the birthday party - mainly for us and the staff I guess since all the babies are really too young. But it is a time for us to say our goodbyes and I know it will be hard for all of us. I think a part of my heart will always be left here in Fengdu.
Tonight we will take the extra crafts we have and go out and do a street type ministry. The kids and families are so taken with us "Americans" and so it is easy to hand out candy, do face painting, take pictures, and just show that we care. The children that are with us are so good at this!
I guess that is all for now! We will post more as we can but since we will be leaving on Sunday and will be on a boat for several days, we probably won't get to do too much more until Shanghai. For my friends and family - thank you for your prayers - we definitely feel them!
Susan
Extreme Makeover - Orphanage Edition Final Results
Here is what it looked like when we were done
Extreme Makeover - Orphanage Edition
So today, we had an awesome opportunity to transform two rooms in the orphanage. One Room was a storage room the other the playroom. We cleaned and painted the walls with a pretty pink paint. Also a group of women painted pictures of flowers, a rainbow and a tree in the playroom to brighten it up. We also put down new playmats for the kiddies to roll around on and set up 10 new child hanging playthings for the kids. The orphanage directors and the nannies were really excited about the changes. What follows are before, during and after photos of each room
PlayroomBefore
During
More pictures Around the orphanage
Day 4 or 5 update - I think it is friday
Today we spent the morning cleaning up the orphanage. We painted two rooms pink and scrubbed the floors in those rooms. We also brought some items that we and everyone who donated to this trip had purchased. They included: rattles, stuffed animals, four air conditioners, a ladder, two sets of play mats, 100 regular bottles, 20 or so cleft palette bottles, bed liners for the cribs and lots of formula. We are able to provide 6 months of formula for this kids. Praise God.
Update on the typhoons - we have not been affected by the typhoons at all, in fact we learned about them for people from the US. I will keep you posted when I know something different.
Hopefully I get more pictures up later tonight.
Pictures around the Orphanage
Update on Photos
I am working on putting up photos. It's taking a little longer than expected. Should have more photos up tommorrow.
Scott
Main playroom, kids in walkers, cribs and watching TV
Chinese Countryside on way to Fengdu
Corn drying in the driveways
Day 3 - Wednesday August 9
Wake up was about 7:00 am, with a combination of Chinese and American breakfast buffet. We boarded a bus for the orphanage about 9:00 am. As we drove around Fengdu going to the orphanage, I was struck by the way everything was large buildings and were brick. Most of the buildings had storefronts. You look at the people and you wonder, did some of these people give up their little precious ones to the orphanage?
The orphanage was up a hill with views of the Yangtzee. It was a combination orphanage and old age home. The children were upstairs in 4 nurseries, with a couple of other rooms. One of the rooms was a playroom with toy mats. This children were so adorable. The youngest children were in a small nursery with about 3 to a crib. The youngest child was about 9 days old. She was so precious, such delicate features. She seemed to have jaundice and slept most of the time. She had on a small pink and white hat to keep her warm. We wondered if she was born premature. Her crib mate was another infant who we believed had encephalitis. Not sure if they give any special care to any of the infants. In general the infants mostly slept all day on their backs. It helps explain why Nathan had such a flat head. The nannies were busy, they would check their diapers and occasionally hold the babies when they were crying.
There were two rooms that held about 6 - 8 cribs with two babies to a crib probably about 3 - 6 months old. Again the children were on their backs sleeping. The nannies would take them into the fourth nursery which had little chairs, walkers, cribs and a TV. Most of the kids were mesmerized by the TV. The kids would be put into the walkers and the little chairs. In the walkers they would get some exorcize, some of the kids were in cribs the other were lined up in their little chairs watching TV. We brought stuffed animals, which there appeared to be no toys or stuffed animals around the orphanage. Everyone picked up the kids, sometime two at a time. The were adorable the way they looked at everyone with the deep stares. We guessed that they would only be held for short periods of time. Some people were attached to one child or another. All of us ministering to the children in whatever way we could. It sad to think about the limited contact that the kids have with the nannies or adults. You look at them and wonder how if ever faced with the decision you could ever decide which child to adopt? It probably is better than you a given the choice of a child and decide yes or no. We found out that 8 of the kids were up for international adoption, what a blessing for theses beautiful kids. I held one child for a while, just providing comfort to her. She decided she didn’t want me to put her down. She spent most of the day in my arms until she went to sleep.
A lot of the people on the mission immediately pick up the children. The talked with them, played with them, held them, comforted them. It’s hard to imagine the limited one on one touching and holding that orphans have. There was a “playroom” down the hallway. The play room consisted of a foam rubber mat that the kids would crawl around on. No toys, no rattles, nothing for them to interact with. Everyone played with the kids. It took a while at first, not sure what the kids were thinking or if they have ever had play time with someone before.
Day 2 - Tuesday August 8
Maggie our guide said we needed to leave the hotel by 6:15 am. Sounds like it is a rough time to wake up, but when you have had a fifteen hour time change it does not really matter what time you wake up the first day. We didn’t leave the hotel till about 6:30 which was a big mistake. The airport is about 1 hour away from the hotel, there was traffic and the bus loading section was closed off. We rushed through the airport, and were the last people on the plane before they closed the doors. Close call. Remember always listen to the guide.
Most of the people except for sporadic businesses men were from China, so we definitely stood out on the plane. We had a two hour flight and landed safely in Chongqing airport. Little fact about Chongqing, it is the largest city in the world with 30 million residents. From the airport we got onto our little bus that would take us to Fengdu - about a 3 hour drive. We stopped off and had some authentic Chinese food. The Chinese food here is different than in the US, I have found that the flavors are more vibrant and that they serve a huge amount of food.
After lunch we loaded the bus for our 3 hour drive. This was the most interesting part of our traveling so far. We were going deep into China. We drove on 2 lane highways and windy mountain roads. The drive took us along the Yangtzee River gorge. It was beautiful. We observed that the Chinese utilize every bit of land available for farming. There are no grass patches in front of houses, but instead there is corn, rice or beans in almost every nook and cranny of the land, and most of it is not flat. This is a valley that the Yangtzee River goes through so there is a lot of terrace farming that takes place. Harvest time appears to be right now. In the driveways and on the road you could find corn, rice, peppers and many other things drying. Again the Chinese were making best use of the land. The other thing that you notice is that there were also these little storefronts that people had for their businesses. They would sell various items from these stores, and they would also serve as restaurants, gathering places and in some cases living quarters.
We arrived at the hotel, and Susan, Robin and Maggie went and met with Mr. Tsao the orphanage director. We found out all of the children are under 2 years old and that there were about 50 children. We needed to be flexible with all of our planning. We were prepared to have crafts and activities for kids who were a lot older. We all went to sleep exhausted, anticipating what it would be like to see these little ones for the first time
Day 1 -Sunday/Monday
Our group was traveling from all over the United States. There were two starting points for our journey: Chicago or San Francisco. My family and I flew from Denver to San Francisco where we met up with Lori and Hydee. We were all excited about the trip but not really looking forward to a twelve hour flight to Shanghai. The plane ride was pretty uneventful, Zackary, Rachel and Nathan did exceptionally well for little kids traveling that far.
We arrived in Shanghai about 7:00 pm on Monday night since we lost a day to travel. We pretty much showed up in Shanghai and went to bed, once we arrived at the hotel
Welcome to FengduMission 2006
This blog is being set up for the members and their families of the Visiting Orphans Mission trip to Fengdu, China in August, 2006.
We are going to be leaving for China on Sunday August 6, 2006 and returning August 17.
Our Itinerary is as follows:
AUG.6 Depart from USA.
AUG.7 Arrive in Shanghai on your own flight, transfer toShanghai Lansheng Hotel.
AUG.8 Shanghai ¨C Chongqing by air, Depart Time-8:15 am (FlightFM9545)Transfer to Fengdu ( 2.5 hours by bus), Check in at Hongsheng GrandHotel
AUG.9 Work in Orphanage.
AUG.10 Work in Orphanage.
AUG.11 Work in Orphanage.
AUG.12 Work in Orphanage.
AUG.13 Yangtzs River Cruise.
AUG.14 Yangtzs River Cruise.
AUG.15 Arrive at Yichang, Yichang ¨C Shanghai.Depart Time-16:40 am (Flight CA1836)D11-AUG.16 Visit the Yu Garden and shopping, acrobatic showin the evening.
AUG.17 Depart and fly back home
